Previously iPhone OS, Apple's iOS is the company's own mobile operating system developed and originally released on the Apple iPhone and the Apple iPod Touch back in 2007.
Several years later it was renamed to iOS and was extended to support other Apple devices such as the iPad, 4th Generation Apple TV and the Apple HomePod.
Unlike Google's Android and Microsoft's Windows Phone, Apple does not license iOS to other manufacturers and it is the sole maker and seller of iOS devices.
The first version of the OS was released initially with the first iPhone (the iPhone 2G as it was pet-named by the public due to the lack of 3G connectivity).
The iPhone OS 1.1.1 brings the following changes (list not exhaustive):
The iPhone OS 1.1.3 brings the following changes (list not exhaustive):
The iPhone OS 2.0 was introduced with the iPhone 3G. It also marked the introduction of the Apple AppStore and the support for third-party apps by the iPhone OS.
What's new:
The iPhone OS 2.2 brings the following changes (list not exhaustive):
The iPhone OS 3.0 was introduced with the iPhone 3GS. It was available as an update both to the iPhone 2G and 3G models.
What's new:
With the introduction of the first iPad the iPhone OS was renamed to iOS. Version 3.2 debuted on the iPad and represents a separate separate branch of the iOS development, which eventually merged back into the main iOS version channel.
Differences compared to the iPhone (list not exhaustive):
The iOS 4.0 was introduced with the iPhone 4. The iPhone 2G and the iPod Touch (1st gen) were no longer supported and were left out of this update. The iPhone 3G and the iPod Touch (2nd gen) could be updated, but have feature limitations. The iPhone 3GS and the iPod Touch (3rd generation) could be updated and support all features.
What's new (list not exhaustive):
The iOS 4.1 brings the following changes (list not exhaustive):
The iOS 4.2 brings the following changes (list not exhaustive):
The iOS 4.2.1 brings the following changes (list not exhaustive):
The iPhone OS 4.2.5 was introduced only on the CDMA iPhone 4 sold by Verizon. It has an exclusive Personal Hotspot feature, allowing the iPhone to turn into a mobile Wi-Fi hotspot.
The iOS 4.3 was presented along with the iPad 2 and it brings the following changes for the whole family (list not exhaustive):
The iOS 5.0 was introduced with the iPhone 4S.
What's new:
The iOS 5.0.1 brings the following changes (list not exhaustive):
The iOS 5.1 was introduced along with the iPad 3 and it brings the following changes (list not exhaustive):
iOS 6.x is the current generation of iOS. It was introduced with the iPhone 5, but is also the out-of-the-box OS for the iPod Touch (5th gen), iPad 4 and the iPad Mini.
What's new:
The iOS 6.1 brings the following changes (list not exhaustive):
2G 3.5mm headphone jack 3G 4G 5G 802.11
A-GPS (Assisted GPS) A2DP (Advanced Audio Distribution Profile) AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) Accelerometer Airplane mode Alarm Clock Alphanumeric AMOLED display (Active-matrix organic light-emitting diode) Analog Android ANT+ Antenna Aperture APN (Access Point Name) Apple AirPlay Apple AirPlay 2 Apple iOS Apple iOS 10 Apple iOS 11 Apple iOS 12 Apple iOS 7 Apple iOS 8 Apple iOS 9 Apple Pay aptX Audio jack Auto-focus AVRCP (Audio/Video Remote Control Profile)
Bada OS Band Bandwidth Bar Base Station Battery Charging BeiDou Navigation Satellite System Benchmarking Biometrics Bit BlackBerry OS BlackBerry Playbook OS Bluetooth bps (Bits per Second) Brand Broadband Browser Byte
Calculator Calendar Call alerts Calling Plan Camera Capacitive Touchscreen Car Kit Carrier CDMA (Code-Division Multiple Access) CDMA2000 Cell Chipset cHTML (Compact HyperText Markup Language) CIF (Common Intermediate Format) Clamshell CMOS (Complementary metal-oxidesemiconductor) Color depth Concatenated SMS Connected GPS Construction Corning Gorilla Glass CPU (Central Processing Unit) Crosstalk CSTN (Color Super Twisted Nematic) CTIA Custom ringtones CyanogenMod
D-Pad (Direction Pad) Data Disclaimer DC-HSDPA (Dual Carrier or Dual Cell High-Speed Downlink Packet Access) Digital Zoom Display type DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) DNSe (Digital Natural Sound engine) Downlink DRM (Digital Rights Management) Dual-band Dual-Mode Dual-SIM DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcasting - Handheld) Dynamic Memory
EDGE (Enhanced Data for Global Evolution) EDR (Enhanced Data Rate) EGPRS EGSM (Extended GSM) Email client Emoji EMS (Enhanced Message Service) eSIM EV-DO EV-DV Exchangeable covers External Antenna Jack External Display
FCC (Federal Communications Commission) Feature Phone Femtocell Firefox OS Firmware Fixed-focus Flash Memory Flight mode Flip-down phone FM Radio FM Transmitter Form factor FOTA (Firmware Over-The-Air) FPS (Frames Per Second) Frame Error Rate Frequency FTP (File Transfer Protocol)
Galileo (Global Navigation Satellite System) GB (Gigabyte) Gbps (Gigabits per second) Geo-tag GLONASS (Global Navigation Satellite System) GNSS Positioning GPRS GPS (Global Positioning System) gpsONE gpsOneXTRA Assistance technology GPU (Graphics Processing Unit)
H.263 H.264 H.265 Half-QWERTY keyboard layout Handwriting recognition Haptics HEVC Hot Spot Hot Swap HSCSD (High-Speed Circuit Switched Data) HSDPA (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access) HSDPA+ (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access Plus) HSP (Headset Profile) HSUPA (High-Speed Uplink Packet Access) HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) Hz (Hertz)
iDEN (Integrated Digital Enhanced Network) Image Signal Processor (ISP) IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) IP (Internet Protocol) IP Ratings IrDA (Infrared Data Association)
KB (Kilobyte) Kbps (Kilobits per second) Key Guard Key Lock Switch
Land line LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) LED (Light-Emitting Diode) Li-Ion (Lithium Ion) Li-Polymer (Lithium Polymer) LiMo OS Linux Location-Based Services (LBS) Lock code Long SMS Long Term Evolution (LTE) Loudspeaker
Macro Maemo OS Magnetometer mAh Mass Storage mode MB (Megabyte) Mbps (Megabit per second) MeeGo OS Megapixel Memory card slot Memory effect Messaging MHz (Megahertz) Micro USB microSD microSDHC Microsoft Exchange (Server) MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) MIDP (Mobile Information Device Profile) Mil-Spec (MIL-STD) MIMO Mini-USB miniSD MMC MMCmobile MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) Mobile games Mobile High-Definition Link (MHL) Mobile IM (Instant Messaging) Mobile WiMAX Mobility DisplayPort (MyDP) Models Modem Monochrome MP3 (MPEG Layer 3) MPEG (Motion Picture Experts Group) MPEG-4 video Multitouch input method Music playback time (battery life) Music Player
NAND Memory Network capacity Network coverage NFC (Near Field Communication) NiCd (Nickel Cadmium) NiMH (Nickel Metal Hydride) NOR Memory Numeric keypad
OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) OLED (Organic Light-Emitting Diode) Optical Zoom OS (Operating System) OTA (Over-The-Air) OTG
Packet Data Pager PC Sync PCS (Personal Communications Service) PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) Percentile rank Phone Book Access (PBA) Phone Life Cycle Phone Physical Attributes Phonebook PIM (Personal Information Manager/Management) PIN code (Personal Identification Number) Pixel Pixel density (Pixels Per Inch) Polyphonic ringtones POP3 (Post Office Protocol) Port Predictive text input Price PTT (Push-To-Talk) PUK Code (PIN UnlocK Code) Push
QCIF (Quarter Common Intermediate Format) Quad-band Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS) QVGA (Quarter Video Graphics Array) QWERTY keyboard layout
RAM (Random-Access Memory) RBDS (Radio Broadcast Data System) RDS (Radio Data System) Rechargeable Battery Types Resistive touchscreen Resolution Ringer ID Ringing profiles Ringtone Roaming ROM (Read-Only Memory) RS-MMC (Reduced-Size Multi Media Card) RSA (Rural Service Area) RSS (Rich Site Summary) Ruggedized (Rugged)
S60 user interface SAP (SIM Access Profile) SAR (Specific absorption rate) Screen protection SD (Secure Digital) Secondary camera Sensors Side Keys SIM SIM lock Single-Band Skin Slimport Smart Watch Smartphone SMIL SMS (Short Messaging Service) SNS (Social network service) Soft keys Soft Reset Speed Dial Stand-by time (battery life) Stereo Speakers Streaming Video Stylus Sub-QCIF SVGA Symbian SyncML
Talk time (battery life) TCP/IP TD-SCDMA (Time Division-Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access) TEST Tethering Text messaging (texting) TFD (Thin Film Diode) TFT (Thin Film Transistor) Theme To-Do list Touchscreen Trackball Transflash Transflective Tri-band
UFS UI (User Interface) UIQ UMA UMTS Unlocked phone Upload UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) USB (Universal Serial Bus) USB On-The-Go USIM
VGA (Video Graphics Array) Video call Video Codec Voice dialing Voice mail Voice memo VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) VPN (Virtual Private Network)
WAP (Wireless Application protocol) watchOS WCDMA(Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) Wear OS Wearable Technology webOS Wi-Fi Windows Mobile Windows Phone OS Wireless email WLAN WMV (Windows Media Video)
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